Many virtualized platforms use the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) specification, created by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) to control installation of a template. A template is a collection of virtual machine images and a descriptor (an OVF file) that specifies, in machine code, how to create virtual machines. The creation of OVF files has traditionally been a manual process requiring a user to interface with the OVF creator, which has been traditionally deployed as an application operating on a general-purpose computing device. Unfortunately, the manual process requires detailed knowledge of OVF and is error-prone. Particularly, a system administrator having specialized knowledge of both the OVF and the physical systems which are being migrated to virtual machines is required. Even a system administrator with the requisite knowledge to manually create an OVF file may still accidentally enter an incorrect value, resulting in the creation of a potentially flawed virtual machine.
Some solutions have been developed to address this issue. For example, Citrix provides a solution named “Kensho OVF Tool” which is essentially a graphical wizard which guides a user through the OVF-creation process. While this solution does provide a step toward automation of the OVF-creation process, a significant amount of user involvement is still required, thereby exposing the process to user error.
What is needed is a completely automated system for creating virtual machines and transitioning physical machines into virtual representations thereof.